Good morning, beloveds. And, it IS a GOOD morning!

I just stopped ’round to speak life to those who have been feeling like they have been dismissed and/or not counted. This is not so.

You have been set apart. You have NOT been set aside. There is a difference.

I used to feel like an outsider. I used to feel like I was on the outside of life looking in at others enjoying their lives.

I felt like a kid with their face pressed against a glass. which was separating them from some wonderful goodies..

I no longer feel that way. now I’m just waiting my turn. I may be asked to take the stage. In the meantime, I’m going to have a good time being a stagehand and helping out where I can. I will help someone else. I will be in the audience for someone else. I will give them a standing ovation for their try.

And if I never get called to the stage, I will still be grateful. I will be thankful I was part of the show in any capacity. I don’t have to be the spotlight. I don’t have to be in the spotlight. I will happily hold the life for someone else.

I love writing. I love encouraging people. I love praying for people. I no longer worry about if others are receiving my words and my care. I send them anyway. My joy is in the writing My joy is in trying to connect. My joy is in the try. The rest is merely icing on the cake.

Life has not discarded you. You have been set aside for this time. This is your time. Take the stage. Build a stage. Clean the stage. Just do something. Just be available. Life will come calling. How shall you answer?

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: If you are feeling discarded about now, get ready. Life is fixing to open up to you. You have not been forgotten. You are just bring prepared. Enjoy the respite. Enjoy your day.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

• 📫 BE HONEST WITH THEM. FOR, ME. ❤️‍🩹Beloveds,I have been thinking about honesty.Not the kind we demand from everybody else.The kind that requires us to sit with ourselves long enough to tell the truth about what is happening inside us.👀Because sometimes the hardest person to be honest with is yourself.Sometimes we know something hurts, but we keep calling it fine.Sometimes we know we are tired, but we keep calling ourselves lazy.Sometimes we know we need help, but we keep calling needing help weakness.Sometimes we know something has changed, but we keep trying to live as though nothing did.And sometimes we are so busy trying to make everybody else comfortable with our reality that we stop being honest about our own.❤️‍🩹I have had to learn this in ways I never wanted to learn it.My life changed.My body changed.My speech changed.My independence changed.The amount of effort required to do ordinary things changed.And there have been moments when I wanted so badly to be the Cassandra I remembered that I became impatient with the Cassandra who was actually here.But she deserves honesty too.She deserves tenderness too.She deserves patience too.She deserves to be loved without having to pretend that everything is easy.🪑So I am learning to tell the truth.I can be grateful and tired.I can have faith and still have questions.I can laugh and still hurt.I can celebrate progress and grieve what changed.I can be strong and need help.I can love people and still need boundaries.I can forgive somebody and still acknowledge what happened.I can believe God is with me without pretending every part of this journey feels good.Those truths do not cancel each other.They can sit in the same room.Sometimes they can even sit in the same chair.👀🪑And maybe somebody reading this needs permission to stop performing too.You do not have to tell everybody everything.Privacy is not dishonesty.Boundaries are not dishonesty.Taking time before you speak is not dishonesty.But beloved, please find somewhere you can tell the truth.Even if the first place is inside your own heart.Say:This hurt me.I miss what was.I am angry.I am afraid.I need help.I don’t know yet.I changed my mind.I need more time.I am proud of myself.I survived something difficult.I am learning.I am healing.I am still here.🔑Because honesty can be a key.A key that unlocks shame.A key that loosens the chain of pretending.A key that lets grief breathe.A key that allows joy to be real instead of performed.A key that makes room for healing.And sometimes the truth is not:”I have figured everything out.”Sometimes the truth is simply:”I am trying.”And beloved?Trying counts.❤️‍🩹I am learning not to require perfection from myself before I offer myself compassion.I am learning not to make recovery another place where I have to perform.I am learning that one difficult day does not erase every good day that came before it.I am learning that needing rest does not erase determination.I am learning that receiving help does not erase independence.And I am learning that being honest about what hurts does not mean I have stopped believing that healing is possible.It means I stopped requiring myself to lie on the way there.👀So be honest with them when honesty is safe.Be honest with the people who love you.Be honest with the people helping you.Be honest about what you need.Be honest about what you cannot do today.Be honest about what you are learning to do again.But before all of that—Be honest with you.For me.❤️‍🩹Because I want you here.Not the polished version.Not the pretending version.Not the version exhausted from convincing everybody that everything is fine.YOU.The learning you.The healing you.The laughing you.The crying you.The figuring-it-out-as-you-go you.There is room for that person here.🪑Pull up a chair.You don’t have to resolve everything before you belong.You don’t have to perform strength before you are loved.You don’t have to have all the answers before your life matters.Your life matters right now.Exactly here.One step.One step.One step.🔑❤️‍🩹🪑Asking for A Friend,Cassandra#YourLifeMattersToMeNote: One step. One step. One step. You are loved. You are NOT alone. Keep on being…YOU!
• THE CHAIR.
• WEDNESDAY 🌎
• WEDNESDAY 🌎
• MOM, WOMBIE, LET’S LOVE THE WORLD TOGETHER. 🌎❤️‍🔥

Someone is forever trying to write my story. They are forever trying to choose the hero and the villain.

They tell me where I can not go. They let me know what things I will never accomplish.

I’m changing the narrative. I’m choosing to be the one to tell my own story. that no longer allow fear or anger or doubt to tell my story for me. I no longer allow my finances or my age or my race or my gender to tell my story. These things are but characters for me to use at my discretion.

I decide who gets on stage. I decide who gets to speak and when. I get to determine the path of my story. I can change the story anytime I choose to. I can begin a new tale. Or I can revamp the one I am currently telling. It’s up to me.

I have been enjoying the NFL playoffs. It has been really sad how some players are being talked about. Some are being called heroes. Others are being called goats and not in a good way. The word failure has been tossed about liberally.

It makes me sad the way the world now views people’s efforts. Folk are viewed as failures or successes. The try is of no consequence. The effort appears to be of no consequence.

I’m praying that we can all get back to caring about one another and embracing each other’s try. I’m tired of this cancer culture which wants to throw out someone because of mistakes. What happened to empathy, compassion and understanding? None of us are perfect. We all are doing the best we know how.

You can change your narrative. You don’t have to accept the narrative that is being placed upon your life. Speak life over your circumstances. Speak joy over your situations. Tell the naysayers to shut up.

Be sure to encourage one another. and to encourage them to change their narrative if they need to. We got this. I really do believe that people are good at heart. They’re just too many people who are giving into false narratives, into divisive rhetorics, and to chasing clicks and being part of clickbait. I choose not to be one of those.

I’m not trying to be an influencer. I’m just choosing to use my influence for good. However, much influence I have, I choose to use that to love the world as best as I can. Speaking of which, I love you.

Have an amazing day. Make 2025 amazing.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: What are you telling yourself about your dreams? Make sure you are watering your dreams with positivity. Leave the hate to the haters. You have much too much to do. Be encouraged. You should have the things you’re striving for. You may also receive much more than you had initially hoped for. You’ll never know unless you try. Get going. The day grows short.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

• 📫 BE HONEST WITH THEM. FOR, ME. ❤️‍🩹Beloveds,I have been thinking about honesty.Not the kind we demand from everybody else.The kind that requires us to sit with ourselves long enough to tell the truth about what is happening inside us.👀Because sometimes the hardest person to be honest with is yourself.Sometimes we know something hurts, but we keep calling it fine.Sometimes we know we are tired, but we keep calling ourselves lazy.Sometimes we know we need help, but we keep calling needing help weakness.Sometimes we know something has changed, but we keep trying to live as though nothing did.And sometimes we are so busy trying to make everybody else comfortable with our reality that we stop being honest about our own.❤️‍🩹I have had to learn this in ways I never wanted to learn it.My life changed.My body changed.My speech changed.My independence changed.The amount of effort required to do ordinary things changed.And there have been moments when I wanted so badly to be the Cassandra I remembered that I became impatient with the Cassandra who was actually here.But she deserves honesty too.She deserves tenderness too.She deserves patience too.She deserves to be loved without having to pretend that everything is easy.🪑So I am learning to tell the truth.I can be grateful and tired.I can have faith and still have questions.I can laugh and still hurt.I can celebrate progress and grieve what changed.I can be strong and need help.I can love people and still need boundaries.I can forgive somebody and still acknowledge what happened.I can believe God is with me without pretending every part of this journey feels good.Those truths do not cancel each other.They can sit in the same room.Sometimes they can even sit in the same chair.👀🪑And maybe somebody reading this needs permission to stop performing too.You do not have to tell everybody everything.Privacy is not dishonesty.Boundaries are not dishonesty.Taking time before you speak is not dishonesty.But beloved, please find somewhere you can tell the truth.Even if the first place is inside your own heart.Say:This hurt me.I miss what was.I am angry.I am afraid.I need help.I don’t know yet.I changed my mind.I need more time.I am proud of myself.I survived something difficult.I am learning.I am healing.I am still here.🔑Because honesty can be a key.A key that unlocks shame.A key that loosens the chain of pretending.A key that lets grief breathe.A key that allows joy to be real instead of performed.A key that makes room for healing.And sometimes the truth is not:”I have figured everything out.”Sometimes the truth is simply:”I am trying.”And beloved?Trying counts.❤️‍🩹I am learning not to require perfection from myself before I offer myself compassion.I am learning not to make recovery another place where I have to perform.I am learning that one difficult day does not erase every good day that came before it.I am learning that needing rest does not erase determination.I am learning that receiving help does not erase independence.And I am learning that being honest about what hurts does not mean I have stopped believing that healing is possible.It means I stopped requiring myself to lie on the way there.👀So be honest with them when honesty is safe.Be honest with the people who love you.Be honest with the people helping you.Be honest about what you need.Be honest about what you cannot do today.Be honest about what you are learning to do again.But before all of that—Be honest with you.For me.❤️‍🩹Because I want you here.Not the polished version.Not the pretending version.Not the version exhausted from convincing everybody that everything is fine.YOU.The learning you.The healing you.The laughing you.The crying you.The figuring-it-out-as-you-go you.There is room for that person here.🪑Pull up a chair.You don’t have to resolve everything before you belong.You don’t have to perform strength before you are loved.You don’t have to have all the answers before your life matters.Your life matters right now.Exactly here.One step.One step.One step.🔑❤️‍🩹🪑Asking for A Friend,Cassandra#YourLifeMattersToMeNote: One step. One step. One step. You are loved. You are NOT alone. Keep on being…YOU!
• THE CHAIR.
• WEDNESDAY 🌎
• WEDNESDAY 🌎
• MOM, WOMBIE, LET’S LOVE THE WORLD TOGETHER. 🌎❤️‍🔥